Despite the showmanship from Gov. Abbott and Commissioner Traylor, the Lone Star State technically has no authority to bar legally recognized refugees with federally-issued visas from coming into Texas.
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The state is requesting a temporary restraining order be implemented in order to prevent the Syrian refugees from entering because of “reasonable concerns about the safety and security of the citizenry of the State of Texas”.
More than thirty governors, mainly Republcians but with a few Democrats, have joined Abbott in barring the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their states.
In a letter to the International Rescue Committee, Chris Traylor made it glaringly clear that Syrian refugees are not welcome in Texas- and that the IRC, an institution that is helping them, will be sued. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is looking to resettle two Syrian refugee families in the state.
“We are also hoping to meet with Governor Abbott to do our piece to persuade him and other officials of State of the integrity of the refugee security process”, Lucy Carrigan, a senior officer in communications for the IRC, told the Dallas Morning News. It then noted that, also by federal law, assistance “shall be provided to refugees without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex or political opinion”.
Mr Abbott was among more than two dozen governors, mostly Republicans, who vowed to stop Syrian refugees from resettling in their states last month – although President Obama’s administration has said states do not have the authority to block refugees in this way.
The suit was filed by Texas’s Health and Human Services Commission in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
The lawsuit argues that the federal government and resettlement group have not fulfilled their contractual obligations to consult with, and provide information to, state officials.
“Refugees are victims of terror, not terrorists, and the families we help have always been welcomed by the people of Texas”, the statement read.
In mid-November, the US House of Representatives voted on a bill that would sharply increase the security screening of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, with a final vote of 289 in favor and 137 opposed.
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Donna Duvin, executive director of the Dallas branch of the International Rescue Committee, finds the threat of legal action more than a little troubling. “If you remain unwilling to cooperate with the state on this matter, we strongly believe that a failure to cooperate with the state on this matter violates federal law and your contract with the state”.
